Just how well known is Dragon Ball/Z with the general public?

[SaiyanGod117]

Dragon Ball Z was at WrestleMania 32

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_2i9gt2qMA&app=desktop

It referenced a lot of times in pop culture, that it would be a ok to consinder it a normie. Though it also depends on the country places like the USA, Latin America, Australia, and some parts of Europe it's pretty well known among the public.

[DBZAOTA482]

Aside from FUNi's adaptation, I think it's pretty niche. The dub did pave the way for relatively accurate versions though, & those are relatively popular nowadays. As ABED said, not exactly mainstream (currently at least) but still pretty big for anime. As for the Pokemon comparison - the thing to note here is how marginalized the anime industry is to Hollywood & its animation, versus the relatively huge stake that Nintendo & Japan in general have carved out for them in video games.

Dragon Ball's about as niche as Call of Duty.

Only if you think DB is some hype WWE-type stuff. Most people are familiar with DB the way that Backstroke of the West viewers enjoyed Star Wars.

It kinda is. In fact, it outplaced WWE (known as WWF at the time) in 2001 as most-searched media on the Lycos search engine only behind Pokemon and Britney Spears. It was also the top-rated show on television at one point, even outpacing The Simpsons and this is a show that was only on a cable channel.

Plus it's obviously more popular in Japan and Latin America than stateside.

[DBZAOTA482]

I think people in their 50s and older have heard of DB, but they probably haven't seen much if any of it.

My parents know about it (even if just through DBZ) and they're well into their 50's. In fact, DBZ and Pokemon are pretty much the only anime they know.

It depends where an older person grew up. My parents were immigrants and don't have the slightest clue about Dragonball. Even if they seen it during the 90's or 80's, they wouldn't remember.

My parents are Jamaican and they lived in Jamaica for most their lives.

[Hellspawn28]

Dragon Ball is a kid series and most adults do not care about kids media at all. So most adults not knowing what Dragon Ball is unless they had kids of their own is not surprising.

[nickzambuto]

Just the other day, during a presentation, I found that my 60+ year old speech professor and a 47 year old fellow student both knew exactly who Goku was.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Dragon Ball's about as niche as Call of Duty.

Only if you think DB is some hype WWE-type stuff. Most people are familiar with DB the way that Backstroke of the West viewers enjoyed Star Wars.

It kinda is. In fact, it outplaced WWE (known as WWF at the time) in 2001 as most-searched media on the Lycos search engine only behind Pokemon and Britney Spears. It was also the top-rated show on television at one point, even outpacing The Simpsons and this is a show that was only on a cable channel.

Plus it's obviously more popular in Japan and Latin America than stateside.

Yes but it's disingenuous to conflate the popularity of FUNi's adaptation with the general English-speaking public, with the popularity of Dragon Ball worldwide. They are very different works with very different intentions behind them.

[DBZAOTA482]

Yes but it's disingenuous to conflate the popularity of FUNi's adaptation with the general English-speaking public, with the popularity of Dragon Ball worldwide. They are very different works with very different intentions behind them.

Your original post suggests that the FUNimation dub is the reason why Dragon Ball is so popular (even though the series was already a worldwide phenomenon before it even hit the states) and I hate it when dub fans do that. The series became a hit on North America pretty much the moment it premiered on Toonami so it didn't really need FUNimation's dub to be successful.

Dragon Ball made Dragon Ball popular.

Dragon Ball is a kid series and most adults do not care about kids media at all. So most adults not knowing what Dragon Ball is unless they had kids of their own is not surprising.

Dragon Ball Z was especially popular with men from ages 12-24 during 20002 so as far as I can tell, the only way someone under the age of 40 would not know what Dragon Ball is if they've been living under a rock for the past 20 years.

[Hellspawn28]

DBZ was popular with kids in Elementary and Middle School. A 20-40 year old when DBZ was airing probably did not care about the show unless they kids watching it. I can ask adult co-workers who are their late 30's or 40's, they probably don't know what Dragon Ball is.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Dragon Ball made Dragon Ball popular.

I missed you so! "Tears up"